This invention consists of a personal dosimeter for monitoring the doses of ionizing radiation received by people regularly subject to such radiation, which normally comprises a radiation sensor, which instantly records the doses of sinusoidal or impact γ (gamma) and X-radiation received, and possibly a second sensor identical to the previous one, particularly for detecting square-wave X-radiation, and also comprises an electronic circuit with a discriminator of the doses in accordance with their wavelength and/or energy intensity, a memory bank in which the history and nature of these doses are stored, a rechargeable electric accumulator and a communications module.
This invention also comprises a dosimeter reading device.
Ionizing radiation is radiation with sufficient energy to pull one or more electrons from an atom or molecule, disconnecting these from their bonding to the atom or molecule which contains them. This radiation can be formed of particles, such as alpha or beta particles, or of electromagnetic radiation, such as γ (gamma) rays or x-rays.
In the natural world there are sources which generate ionizing radiation in the earth's crust, and also others coming from the exterior, the latter being filtered by the different layers of the earth's atmosphere.
Ionizing radiation also comes from artificial sources, such as x-ray generators or particle accelerators.
X-radiation rays are normally sinusoidal, and γ (gamma) rays take the form of peaks or impacts. There are also devices, especially in electro-medicine, which generate X-radiation in the form of a square wave.
People's regular exposure to ionizing radiation must be controlled according to the proper regulations. These regulations also establish the need to set up a centralised national network of exposure to radiation, or an individual radiological follow-up document for each outside worker.
It is thus required for people who are regularly exposed to ionizing radiation to have a device for monitoring and evaluating the doses received, so as to also establish the proper corrective measures, for example by carrying out activities not subject to ionizing radiation or by increasing the devices for radiological protection such as protective suits.
Dosimeters are instruments for measuring the dose absorbed in a context of radiological protection.